It's impossible not to love the Merveille du Jour. Just incredible moths! #MothsMatter @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Less than 2 weeks until I'll be running the Great North Run to raise money for the Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity. If anyone would like to donate to this wonderful charity, then I'd be very grateful. www.justgiving.com/page/ryan-cl...

Drosera x obovata, the hybrid between Great Sundew and Round-leaved Sundew. On a beautiful bog in Wales today with Sphagnum austinii and Sphagnum beothuk nearby.

Our brand new traineeships are open for applications!! On this paid, 6-month programme, we are looking for two people, age 18-25, to join the Communities and Education Team at the Great Fen as part of our National Lottery-funded project, #PeatlandProgress. www.wildlifebcn.org/jobs/peatlan...

Last week I came across some Small Scabious Mining Bees (Andrena marginata) in County Durham. This lovely species is Nationally Scarce and, I believe, has only been recorded twice before in Northern England. I managed to find them in 3 1km squares in the end. #NorthEastBeeHunt @nenature.bsky.social

Some tiny plants from the dune slacks at Holy Island. Small Adder's Tongue, Small-fruited Yellow-sedge and Shoreweed #WildflowerHour

The Gold-tailed Melitta aka Bellflower Blunthorn Bee, Melitta haemorrhoidalis, is one of my favourite bees. The females (picture 1) collect pollen from Campanula species but also visit Geraniums for nectar. The males (picture 2) are super cute too and sleep in flowers, often in little groups.

Very pleased to find a Transparent Burnet today on Mull. Lovely little moths 😍

North-bumble-land Walk complete! 🐝 🐝 1,070 bumblebees counted 🔎 15 species recorded 🥾 84 miles walked A huge thank you for your support & donations for @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social! Notebook is full of sightings for @nenature.bsky.social's #NorthEastBeeHunt! www.justgiving.com/page/charlot...

@movingslowly.bsky.social was one of the first people I met when I moved to Cumbria. A lover of life, nature, people, and books, he always had a cheeky smile on his face and a Diet Coke to hand. He loved these verges near Orton, and it felt like a fitting place to sit and remember him today.

Just over three weeks to go! 🐝

10 years ago, I started my first paid job in Ecology and have very much enjoyed my time working for various charities to understand and conserve our often overlooked invertebrates and plants. (1/3)

The females of the Belted Beauty moth are especially bizarre, like fluffy woodlice wearing stripey socks. Their wings are only 2mm or so long, so don't function, meaning that they have to use pheromones to draw the males to them!

A Gold-fringed Mason Bee (Osmia aurulenta) from Cumbria earlier this week. This species nests in empty snail shells, disguising the shell slightly with chewed up leaves.

Lovely to see some solitary bees out and about enjoying the sunshine recently. Including these two Tawny Mining Bees (Andrena fulva), male Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes) and a male Andrena of some kind.

The boys are back in town! Lovely to see some male Andrena mining bees enjoying the sunshine this afternoon.

Solorina saccata, the Chocolate Chip Lichen, is a species I've wanted to see for ages! It was great to stumble across some yesterday in Yorkshire. This species favours sheltered limestone rocks and is rather charismatic!

A great day out on the limestone around Buckden today. A wonderful way to end three fabulous days I've spent looking for bryophytes as part of the week long @bbsbryology.bsky.social Spring meeting.

Based in the North East and want to know more about mosses and liverworts? 🔎 Just a few places remaining on my 'Beginning With Bryophytes' course taking place this Saturday with @nenature.bsky.social! Book here ➡️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beginning-...

Two Pammene giganteana (Early Oak Gall Moth) to FUN lure on the edge of Carlisle today. The larva of this species feeds on spongy galls on oak trees. This species was considered rare until it was realised that they come to lures intended for other species.

There was a nice range of acid bark lichens in the sunshine at Borrowdale yesterday. Including Bryoria fuscescens, Sphaerophorus globosus and Ochrolechia tartarea.

Our study on #lichen #symbiosis is out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! How can multiple microbes create a large, 3D, and structurally complex organism? To answer this question, we used #metagenomics, #metatranscriptomics, and a bit of protein structure modeling 🧵1/7 🧬 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky

A very majestic Ash alongside Ullswater in the Lake District. Supporting lovely lichens including Lobaria pulmonaria (Tree Lungwort), Ricasolia amplissima (Parchment Lichen) and Nephroma laevigatum (a kidney lichen).

A rather confusing (for me atleast) lichen to start off Saturday. It seems to have apothecia resembling both Pectenia cyanloma and P. plumbea. From Argyll in Scotland last year. Any ideas please #lichengbi ?

@averisben.bsky.social talk was just as great as I expected. Full of bryophytes, lichens, artwork and poetry. His drawing here is of the same area of Borrowdale as my photo.

Very much looking forward to @averisben.bsky.social talk tomorrow in Carlisle about the wonderful Atlantic woodlands we have in Britain and Ireland. Exploring these beautiful habitats has become an essential part of my winters now! www.carlislenats.uk/meeting/the-...

Lots of lovely mosses and liverworts seen yesterday at @wildhaweswater.bsky.social with the Cumbria Lichen and Bryophyte Group. Here are 8 of my favourites out of the 80+ species we recorded in a small area of Atlantic woodland.

Lovely to see the moss Grimmia crinita yesterday in Buckinghamshire. In Britain, this species is only known from 2 sites. Beautiful!

26 species in flower from a wander around an industrial estate for the #NewYearPlantHunt 🌱 📸 Meadow Foxtail, Narrow-leaved Ragwort, and a surprise Bee Orchid rosette along the way! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social

The lovely Eagle’s Claw lichen (Anaptychia ciliaris subsp. ciliaris) seen at its only Cumbrian site this afternoon. A Nationally Scarce and S41 species. Also sampled the delicious cake at the nearby cafe!

Today was my last day at @savebutterflies.bsky.social after a wonderful two years filled with great moths, amazing habitats, and lovely plants. I made over 200 site visits and was lucky enough to work on some of northern England's rarest moths, a real privilege!

Three lovely limestone loving mosses and liverworts which brightened up a dull weekend. Scapania aspera (Rough Earwort), Rhytidium rugosum (Wrinkle-leaved Feather-moss) and Metzgeria pubescens (Downy Veilwort)

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside. These lovely coastal rocks were covered in lichens. I'm thinking the large luxurious ones in the first photo are Sea Ivory, Ramalina siliquosa but the ones in the second photo could be the similar R. cuspidata.

Argyll's atlantic woodlands were bursting with life last week including the wonderfully named: Hazel Gloves (Hypocreopsis rhododendri) Frilly-fruited Jelly Lichen (Leptogium burgessii) Yellow Specklebelly (Pseudocyphellaria citrina) Deceptive Featherwort (Pseudomarsupidium decipiens)

The wonderful and Nationally Scarce Octopus Suckers lichen (Collema fasciculare) from Argyll today.

I'm happy to have reached 50,000 records on iRecord Each one representing a memory of where I've seen a species. Lots more recording to be done, species to meet and places to explore 🐛🐝🐞🦗🌳🌼

Two amazing Dog Lichens from upland Cumbria today. Peltigera venosa which was tiny but spectacular and Peltigera leucophlebia, much larger and equally as lovely.

Borrowdale is probably my favourite area of Cumbria. The weather at the weekend wasn't great but its always wet in Borrowdale so it didn't really matter! It just makes the mosses and liverworts all the more luxuriant! Over 50 species recorded.

Appreciating the smaller things on a lunchtime walk yesterday. I've walked past the sycamore so many times without stopping to appreciate the lichens that grow on and around it.

A throwback to 3 weeks ago when I was exploring this lovely area near Glencoe in Scotland. Great habitat full of lovely mosses and liverworts!

Hello everyone 👋. I'm going to give this Bluesky business a go. Follow for various ramblings about insects, plants and bryophytes in northern England.